


The P-Word

by mrs_d



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Intrusive Thoughts, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Other, Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-16 19:00:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16500956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrs_d/pseuds/mrs_d
Summary: So,says Venom, just as Eddie’s about to fall asleep.That word.





	The P-Word

**Author's Note:**

> Venom's use of that word really bothered me in the movie, so I wrote an explanation for it. Unbeta'd, tell me if there's a grammar thing. 
> 
> Sidenote: good god, is this who I am now? Come yell at me about this on ~~Tumblr~~ [Dreamwidth](https://mrs-d.dreamwidth.org/).
> 
> Update 11/07/2018: I saw the movie again last night and noticed that Venom does use "I". For some reason I thought when I was writing this that they only used "we". Whoops. I could change it to be more accurate, but I'm not gonna. Apologies if it bugs you.

**So,** says Venom, just as Eddie’s about to fall asleep. **That word.**

“It’s 3AM, V,” Eddie groans, grateful — again — that he doesn’t have a roommate.

Except for the roommate in his brain, who apparently can’t take a fucking hint. **So?** Venom says again.

_“So,”_ Eddie stresses, “it’s a little late for alien ESL.”

**ESL?**

“Never mind,” says Eddie. “Just— I’m trying to sleep, okay?”

**But you are thinking about that word.**

Eddie flops onto his back and glares at the ceiling. _We talked about reading my mind without permission, V,_ he thinks deliberately.

**We did,** the symbiote acknowledges, **but we want you to know that we are sorry.**

“For what?” Eddie asks, thrown. He doesn’t think he’s ever heard Venom apologize. Even for things that one really ought to apologize for in polite society, like eating people.

**We took that word from your brain, and we didn’t mean any harm by it.**

That gives Eddie pause. Obviously Venom took the word from his brain — no way the symbiote crash-landed on Earth with that kind of vocabulary — but it had never occurred to Eddie that Venom hadn’t known it was an insult, or, if they had, they didn’t know why or how it hurt him.

He’d gotten used to intrusive thoughts long before he met Venom; he was accustomed to hearing a voice in his head that insulted him, calling him stupid, lazy, useless, and yes, the p-word. Worse than that, too. So hearing it in Venom’s otherworldly growl hadn’t caused so much as a blip in his internal radar that day. Venom hasn’t used it since, but that doesn’t mean Eddie hasn’t heard it anyway.

**Why do you talk about yourself that way, Eddie?**

_Great,_ Eddie thinks. They’ve gone from ESL to therapy, and given that it’s 3 in the morning, he’d rather the former. Well, ideally, he’d have neither, but—

**Eddie?**

Eddie sighs. “You got an hour every week for the rest of your life, Doc?”

**We have forever,** comes the reply. It’s surprisingly tender.

Eddie blinks at the ceiling, considers the symbiote’s offer. He’s known for years that he ought to talk to _somebody_ about it. Anne convinced him to go to a counselor a few times when they were in New York, but Eddie didn’t really click with the guy, so he stopped going. Then they moved out here, and Annie didn’t bring it up again.

“Hey, V?” he says finally. “You know what I said a minute ago about not reading my mind?”

**Yes?**

“Forget it,” Eddie tells him. “You really wanna know? Here’s the Wikipedia article. Go nuts.”

He closes his eyes and summons up as many memories as he can of his father. There’s not much there, really, and the therapist he saw really briefly a few years ago seemed pretty troubled by that, but Eddie’s grateful. He doesn’t dip into his past very often — he shut that door when he moved out at 17, and he shut it hard.

He cracks it open now, though, and lets Venom take a look. At the fear that flooded his small body when he heard his father’s truck tires crunch in the drive. At the stinging smacks to the side of his head when he failed a test (or, later, when he passed and _started thinking he was too good for this place)._ At the way he used to flinch, before he learned not to. At the echoes of shouted words — at his brother, at his mother. And, with a wince, he lets Venom see — he lets himself remember — the language that was directed at him, day in, day out.

One particular day stands out in his memory. He’d made the mistake of telling his dad he wanted to move to New York and study journalism at NYU. His father had a lot to say about that — the p-word, the f-word, the other f-word. Eddie left that very night, and to this day he’s never been back.

_It was hell,_ he concludes silently, _so I took off._

**We are glad you did,** says Venom, and Eddie suddenly realizes that he’s wrapped up in them. Thick black coils encircle his torso — the alien equivalent of a hug, maybe. He pets one fondly, and thin tendrils sneak out of Eddie’s wrist, entwining with his fingers and holding on tight.

“Thanks,” he adds out loud.

**We are glad you’re here now, Eddie,** Venom reiterates, warm and snug around him like a heavy blanket.

“Me too,” Eddie murmurs.

**And you are not a p-word,** Venom tells him. **Or any of those other words he said.**

“I know,” says Eddie. It feels strange, patting the tentacle around his chest to give Venom some comfort, but he gets the impression they like it all the same.

**We will not call you that again.**

“Appreciate that, buddy,” Eddie says, and he yawns. His trip down memory lane was exhausting, and with Venom keeping him warm, the fatigue of the hour is really starting to catch up on him again.

**As long as _you_ don’t call you that again.**

Eddie cracks a smile. “Deal.”

The tendrils tighten again. One strokes the side of his face. Eddie closes his eyes. **You are ours now, Eddie,** Venom growls. **Ours to protect. If we ever meet your father, we will eat him.**

“Don’t worry, he’s dead now, V,” Eddie half-chuckles.

**…We might eat him anyway.**


End file.
